What Tablet Do I Want?

[Wheres Toto]

I want to get a tablet that I can use to keep records for my classes on.  Right now I use paper mostly, although I also have spreadsheets with longer term stuff and even my paper stuff is often printed out from Excel or Powerpoint.  I have class lists where I have emergency contact information, notes about allergies and picture releases, and take attendance; class activity outlines with class date, subject covered, and supplies needed; of course I have a million to-do lists; calendar planner; etc. 

I think I'd like to get a tablet to do all this.  I still need my laptop for a lot of my work and don't really want to switch to something that does both like a Surface Pro, since I would still connect my laptop to the tv during class to show slides and videos and I'd want this to be separate from that.    But something that I can also have Google apps on like Keep, Calendar, and I guess docs, slides and spreadsheet, that can be updated at the same time on the tablet and my laptop.  If it could have Google and MS Office that would be perfect but I don't know if such a thing exists, if I can't get Office, I can use the Google versions if I have to. 

I tried it out with my Kindle Fire and it worked adequately but was definitely too small (I only have the 7 1/2 inch I think), I think I'd want a full size around 8 x 10 tablet.  

Any suggestions?

[PeterPan]

Honestly, you should just go to Best Buy and try them. Anything google you want you can also do on an ipad, so you are *not* limited to an android tablet. I just got my dad a Samsung S5e. The size is nice, but the feel is so primitive compared to the bounce on an ipad. MUCH prefer ipads. My mother held out, going through two samsung tablets, but she never fell in love till she got an ipad.

So I would say what you want is an ipad pro. But you know, go to the store and try them for yourself. The market is not with samsung, lol. In our big city stores, samsung gets this little end cap and Apple has an entire STORE. 

I love kindles btw too, but they're totally underpowered little cheapie devices. They're great for when that use suits, like with my ds who throws them and runs with them. But if you actually want some power, over to a different device, mercy. 

[PeterPan]

Btw, make sure you notice there are different pricepoint models for the ipads. My dh uses an ipad pro, but I have two (a really old Ipad3 if you can imagine) and one of these student targeted ipad borings. I think they literally just call it ipad. Not pro or swank or air or swizzles or anything fancy. It's the most dull ipad model you'll see listed, and I'm pretty sure I got it for *around* $300. Honestly I bought it so ds could play Civ, but the thing is a BEAST. It will use an apple pencil if you want. It does great with ibooks that are long and have embedded videos. I get these Ronit Bird ebooks and they were crashing my older ipad and don't this one. 

So I think don't feel compelled to overbuy if money is tight. If the lowest model of ipad will do what you need, roll with it. I only said pro for the biggest screen. Those things do stuff that are SO beyond my utilitarian use, lol. (split screens, whiz bang) I think if you go to Best Buy or wherever you'll see all this. 

[Wheres Toto]

So after reading a bunch of reviews and taking a look at some at Best Buy, I ended up going with a Kindle Fire 10.   It mainly came down to between the Fire and the Samsung Galaxy.

I was very hesitant on an Ipad because (besides the price), everything else I have except an ipod that I do nothing but use for music, all my devices are android/windows.     

PCMag and a bunch of other sites gave the Fire 10 great reviews with the main con being that they can't do google apps, except they CAN do google apps.  I've been loading google play store on Fire tablets for about 5 years, including about a dozen of them for my classes and my kids ones that get daily use with all kinds of specialized apps.   

I know that what I want to do will work on the Fire because I tested it on my smaller one.  I was willing to go in a different direction if something would work better, but it seems like this is my best bet.    I'm using Google Sheets for my attendance and class plans/supply lists, Keep for notes (already had on my computer and phone) on accounts, etc.; Google calendar, etc.  Since I already have all that stuff, it was easy to just access it from the tablet.  And this way I can make any big changes from my computer, rather than having to type everything on the tablet.  

My phone is a Galaxy S10+ and I knew the Samsung tablet would be compatible as well, prices points were similar so I ended up going with what I knew.  

Thank you all for the advice!

[PeterPan]

6 hours ago, Where's Toto? said:

Kindle Fire 10

Ooo, that's great that it will work for you! And the bonus is, you might have unexpected great uses for it. I LOVE how easy it is to use amazon media (videos, audiobooks, etc. ) with kindle devices. You could use your library's online options and overdrive, do magazines, etc. 

Edited September 20, 2020 by PeterPan

[Wheres Toto]

9 minutes ago, PeterPan said:

Ooo, that's great that it will work for you! And the bonus is, you might have unexpected great uses for it. I LOVE how easy it is to use amazon media (videos, audiobooks, etc. ) with kindle devices. You could use your library's online options and overdrive, do magazines, etc. 

Definitely!  I already have Kindle, Nook and my local library on all my devices.